Braving Algeria Desert, Oil Firms Reaped Rewards

By

James Herron

Updated Jan. 18, 2013 8:06 a.m. ET

The Algerian desert was a difficult work environment even before the hostage crisis at a natural gas field in the southeast of the country.

BP PLC In Salah gas field in Algeria—to the west of the In Amenas field, where suspected Islamic militants have taken dozens of foreigners hostage—is the hottest continuously inhabited place on earth, BP says. Temperatures swing from higher than 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit) in the...